According to nature writer, John J. Rowlands,
author of Spindrift from a House by the Sea(1960):

"Spindrift is the misty spray that flies from the cresting
waves when the winds blow hard and the seas run high."

But,
of course, we OceansideSailorsknow it as the name of our
most cherished high school souvenir― our yearbook. Until now, it has been the most complete
record and collection of memories from our time at
Oceanside High School,
particularly our senior year.(One classmate fondly called it "The Old Book.")

Aptly titled, Spindrift was our
parting gift to each other as we prepared to leave the safe harbor of
our high school and sail off into the stormy seas of adulthood and the
real world.

Our Spindrift never explained the hourglass on its cover, but with
hindsight, we can
now surmise that it symbolized the small amount of time we had left to be together then
before sailing off in so many different directions.

Here's Howie
Our 1960 Spindrift described itself on its opening page as
"a
pale commentary compared to the many warm memories in your minds."
If
you count the faces pictured under that activity and do the math, Spindrift
will
also tell you that 112 seniors (22% of our
class) labored on its preparation, far and
away more senior Sailorsand, in fact, more
Sailors than were directly involved in any
other single school activity that year. They did this, they said, with the
goal of making "those
fond memories a little more distinct and a little more alive."
It makes one wonder:

Could we have known back in 1960 how far and wide we would disperse (more
than any generation before us) and how we would necessarily lose touch with
one another?

Could we have known back in 1960 how distinct and alive those memories
nevertheless would be, how important they would be to us and how much pleasure they would give us
― over

40 years later?

Could we have known back then, in 1960, how much less distinct and alive those
memories might have been ― as we all approached our seventh
decade of life ― without our Spindrift?

Many of the images and bits of information on this cyber-come fromSpindrift, and we gratefully thank theSailors
among us and those from earlier classes who had the foresight to preserve them
for our lifetimes ― in Spindrift― so they could always be our harbor lights,
and guide our return to port where we can drop anchor
any time we might care to navigate its
pages. And what a trip it
has been!

In July 2008, our class
association came into possession of the only pristine condition,
unsigned 1960 edition of Spindrift known to exist that is not
maintained under lock and key at the
Oceanside PublicLibrary.

Yearbook
Online

For those among us who
have lost their precious yearbooks as the years sailed by, worn them out or just
don't want to dig them out of mothballs, this site
presents a full set of senior portraits with all the
commentary that originally accompanied them―57
authentic and complete pages right out of your 1960 Spindrift―and more!!
What else, you ask??How about
group
photostaken from the 1958 and '59Spindrifts of our class as
sophomores and juniors?